1841-1886
· REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PAST AND PRESENT
think will preserve it from injury during future heavy weather. This service amounted to 251.
185
A new pathway, distance 1 mile, twelve feet wide, was formed, extending from Aberdeen Street to the first bridge on the Aberdeen Road, for the sum of 992. 19s. 6d. The work turned out much heavier than was anticipated, and excessive damage occurred to it during some heavy rains; but the contractor was enabled to finish the work in a sufficiently perfect manner for the purposes for which it is intended, as a public promenade for the inhabitants of the upper part of Victoria during the heat of summer.
In the Lower Bazaar a portion of sea wall was built on a street abutting on the Strand Road, together with stone steps leading to the Queen's Road, with stone from the old pier at the Albany Godowns, for the sum of 221. 18s. In connexion with the above it was proposed to build other portions of sea wall, but in consequence of the neighbouring tenants neglecting to build at the same time, I have been obliged to postpone the work and close the account.
The Sukunpu causeway was partially repaired, rendering it available for pedestrians, for the sum of 3l. 19s. 6d.
The only other expenditure for repairs to a road during the year was for that extending from the Albany Godowns to Quarry Bay, a distance of 2¼ miles, which included the portions lately finished, and only partially consolidated, 317. 9s. 10d.
1
A new bridge and three stone drains were made on a portion of the road to North Point in lieu of wooden platform bridges. These were completed for the sum of 65l. A stone arch of peculiar construction, having splayed abutments, and askew on the face, was built on the Aberdeen Road, for the sum of 15l. 16s. 8d.
The whole of the platform bridges on the road round the island, with the exception of three, viz., one at Tytam and one at Aldrich Bay of considerable length, and the other a sliding bridge, for the convenience of a boatbuilder in Aberdeen, were rebuilt in stone, being seventeen in number, of various sizes, commenced and completed during the year, for the sum of 295l. 16s. 8d.
Drains.
In effecting some of the improvements in the Lower Bazaar it was necessary to lengthen and reconstruct some of the old drains; these were partially completed for an expenditure of 48l. 13s. 11d.; the work unfinished pertaining to ground yet unreclaimed the account was closed.
In Taipingshan and the Queen's Road a drain, the receptacle of much filth, and a nuisance to the neighbourhood, was covered over for the sum of 10l. 10s.; and in the same locality a small repair to a culvert, which having become choked burst during a heavy fall of rain, was effected for the sum of 4l. 10s.
The total expenditure, both in construction and repair to roads, bridges, and drains, has amounted during the year to 6674. 16s. 11d.
The repairs to the harbour-master's pier amounted to the sum of 11. 8s. 5d.
Sundry Works.
Comprising the sinking four wells in the city at an expenditure of 22l. 4s.; the preparation and erection of boundary stones, 1l. 17s. 6d.; enlargement of the gallows 14l. 13s. 6d.; and planting trees 12l. 10s., making a total for that service of 51l. 5s.
Convicts.
The expenditure incurred under this head has been for the repair and supply of tools, both for labour inside as well as outside the gaol, and amounted to the sum of 22l. 5s. 7d., which consisted principally in the reconstruction of iron work, such as shovels, hammers, and the fittings of wheelbarrows. The greater part of the carpenters' work I was fortunately enabled to complete with convict labour.
Burial Ground.
New tools, costing 1l. 18s. 7d., were supplied to the sexton for this service. The total expenditure during the year, executed under my superintendence, on account of public works, as above enumerated, has amounted to the sum of 4,955l. 0s. 8d.
Convict Labour.
This labour, as it always must be here, has been of the ordinary description, viz., in the construction of such repairs, &c. as this class of men usually perform. We very seldom have any but the very scum of the place; and artificers, either blacksmiths or carpenters, rarely commit such acts as condemn them to hard labour on the roads. Within the gaol this year a greater number of men have been confined for hard labour, I believe, than ever before in the same period. These have consisted principally of sailors, averaging no less than 56 per day. The only work upon which they were engaged was that of breaking stone, picking oakum, making mats, soft rope, or spun yarn, &c. This labour, however, cannot be considered as any degree of punishment, as the officers of the prison do not...